spritsail

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sprit·sail

(sprĭt′səl, -sāl′)

A quadrilateral fore-and-aft sail extended by a spar running diagonally to the sail's peak.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

spritsail

(ˈsprɪtˌseɪl; ˈsprɪtsəl)

1. (Nautical Terms) a rectangular sail mounted on a sprit in some 19th-century small vessels

2. (Nautical Terms) (in medieval rigging) a square sail mounted on a yard on the bowsprit

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sprit•sail

(ˈsprɪtˌseɪl; Naut. -səl)

n.

a sail extended by a sprit.

[1425–75; late Middle English sprete seyle (see sprit, sail); compare Dutch sprietzeil]

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Noun

spritsail - a fore-and-aft sail extended by a sprit

fore-and-aft sail - any sail not set on a yard and whose normal position is in a fore-and-aft direction

sprit - a light spar that crosses a fore-and-aft sail diagonally

Translations

spritsail

[ˈsprɪtseɪl] (Naut) [ˈsprɪtsl] N → cebadera f, vela f de abanico

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

spritsail

n → Sprietsegel nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in classic literature ?

As the spritsail was taken in and the boat headed on to the beach, he was aware of a distinct hurt at sight of Joan at the steering-oar, standing erect and swaying her strength to it as she resisted the pressures that tended to throw the craft broadside in the surf.

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The exchange was made, and the salmon boat got up its spritsail and headed down the bay toward the marshes off San Rafael.

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The light ships fared the best, as not so much labouring in the sea; but two or three of them drove, and came close by us, running away with only their spritsail out before the wind.